More organizations stuck in the past despite security risks

Apr 27, 2015 12:00 GMT  ·  By

Windows XP support ended in April 2014, but plenty of companies and organizations are still running it, despite the obvious security risks created by using unsupported software.

The London Metropolitan Police, for example, still has 30,560 computers powered by Windows XP, and a plan for upgrading them to a newer Windows version is not yet in place.

But at least, they do have a running contract with Microsoft to get custom patches, so all these computers running Windows XP continue to receive updates and security fixes in return for several million pounds. While the exact value of the extended Windows XP support is not known, it’s believed that organizations have to pay around $200 (€150) for each PC that gets the updates.

“We have currently got 35640 Desktop and Laptop computers running windows XP across all departments within the MET [Metropolitan Police],” a spokesperson told Motherboard. “The MPS have a Microsoft Custom Support Agreement (CSA) in place for Windows XP, that will continue to support the MPS environment.”

Still the world’s second most used OS

Despite getting no patches since April 2014, Windows XP continues to be the world’s second most used operating system, with quite a lot of organizations and users delaying the upgrade to a newer OS version for various reasons.

The one and the most important factor that keeps many companies on Windows XP is the total price of the upgrade, as the majority would have to pay not only to migrate their data from XP to a newer OS version but also to purchase new hardware to cope with the requirements of a new platform.

In the meantime, Microsoft is working to bring a new Windows version to the market in an attempt to offer a better replacement for Windows XP, but as is the case with previous versions, it would also require hardware upgrades for old systems.

Right now, Windows XP has a market share of around 18 percent, according to third-party data, whereas Windows 8.1 and Windows 8 are behind with a combined share of around 14 percent.